Rubbing when lowered

[martinj46]

On saturday, I finally got the chance to wind my KW V1's down a bit, not slammed on the deck though.  There was still 5 threads left on the front, but this was causing quite a lot of rubbing, so I wound it up, now 8 threads.  My question is, there are a lot of people on here running a lot lower than I am, do your car's all rub also?  What is it that the tyre rubs on? Initially I thought it was the outer edge of the arch, but there are no marks on it to suggest this and I've not had time to investigate further.  Is there something that can be done to prevent the rubbing, other than camber plates?

I'm running BBS VZ's 18"x8" ET44 on 225/40/18 tyres FYI

Cheers

Martin

[Dan648v]

Rubbing front or back?

Have you done the arch screw mod at the front?

[martinj46]

It's just the front that's rubbing, mainly the passenger side.  I've just got the car back from the bodyshop last week, and they haven't put the screw back in on the top of the driver's side arch liner, do I need to trim off the plastic tab on the arch liner, or just simply remove the passenger side screw?

[Dan648v]

I removed my screws and pushed the plastic liner on top of the tab that comes out the Wing

This got rid of my rubbing!

[martinj46]

Thanks, I'll have a look after work.

Does anyone have any refernce dimensions on a standard GTI to help me figure out how much I've lowered it?  I stupidly forgot to check beforehand

[martinj46]

I've looked into this further.  I still haven't had a chance to do the screw mod though.  However, I had a look at the arch the other day to check everything was alright, to find there is some tyre rubber on the arch lip, so the screw mod alone isn't going to cure the problem.  I've asked a local guy if he had any issues when he ran a similar wheel/lowered setup on his mk5, and he said his wheels easily tucked up into the arches, without fouling on them like mine are.  We reckon it must just be the wheel alignment.  I didn't think there was much if any camber adjustment on the front as standard, is that correct?  I have read that the subframe can be slid from side to side though, in turn affecting the camber, reducing it one side, increasing it on the other.  Is that true?  If so, it would explain why one wheel clears the arch and the other doesn't.  How easy is this to rectify?  I read from the same source it's something VW refuse to undertake, which doesn't fill me with much confidence.

[Top Cat]

As you say you should not be rubbing with those wheels, that spec wheel gives about 12 mil more poke than the pescari or Monza so should be fine. I would wind them up, then get all your geo checked out the wind them down again to sensible levels.  you should be able to go 30 to 40mm without rubbing. 

[martinj46]

That's the plan for the weekend.  I've enquired about a geo setup, just waiting on a response.  I'll keep this updated as it progresses.

[spankydan]

Geo will help, but imo 225 with a 42-45 offset lowered will rub.

I cured my issue by going 215/35/19.

[martinj46]

Geo will help, but imo 225 with a 42-45 offset lowered will rub.

I cured my issue by going 215/35/19.

Even with them being only 18"?

[spankydan]

Geo will help, but imo 225 with a 42-45 offset lowered will rub.

I cured my issue by going 215/35/19.

Even with them being only 18"?

All depends how low you actually are. to run low, low (personally i would say unusable in day to day situations on 18") i would say a offset of 50 and higher (very tucked).

Or knock your width down with the 215's

[martinj46]

Cheers.  I'm not super low.  I still think the alignment is the first thing to tackle, as the driver's side is well clear of the arch, but the passengers in bang inline with it, so that's not purely tyre size, I'm sure the width isn't helping matters though